December 2, 2016

NREL has published a new report showing that the average fuel economy of fuel cell
electric buses from three fleets is approximately 6 miles per diesel gallon equivalent
or DGE, 1.4 times higher than conventional diesel buses (about 4.2 miles per DGE)
from one fleet and up to 1.9 times higher than compressed natural gas buses (about
3.3 miles per DGE) in another fleet.

The report, Fuel Cell Buses in U.S. Transit Fleets: Current Status 2016 and published annually by NREL, summarizes the progress of fuel cell electric bus
development in the United States and discusses the achievements and challenges of
introducing fuel cell propulsion in transit. The report was announced Nov. 30 by DOE
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Reuben Sarkar at the Zero Emissions
Bus Workshop in London.

The 2016 report focuses on the August 2015 to July 2016 time period for three demonstrations:
the Zero Emission Bay Area Demonstration Group, the American Fuel Cell Bus Project
at SunLine Transit Agency in California, and the American Fuel Cell Bus Project at
the University of California at Irvine. The results for these buses account for more
than 550,000 miles traveled and 59,500 hours of fuel cell power system operation.

This work is supported by DOE's Fuel Cell Technologies Office in the Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy.